Irish Time

Friday, December 21, 2012

Loyalist Fascist British Occupied Ireland

IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWS

Friday-Thursday, 14-20 December, 2012

----------------------------------------------------------------------- We would like to extend greetings to all of our readers for the Christmas - and ask you to join with us in thinking of the republican political prisoners and internees who are spending this festive season behind bars.

In June last year former police ombudsman Al Hutchinson concluded there was insufficient evidence of collusion.

In a highly controversial report, he only identified failings in the police investigation, criticising it for a lack of diligence and leadership.

Hutchinson later stepped down amid a scandal over the operation of the Ombudsman's office and the manner in which reports were drafted.

His report on Loughinisland was branded a whitewash by the victims' families, who launched judicial review proceedings in a bid to have it overturned.

In court yesterday it was confirmed that Dr Maguire had agreed to the move, and to the order that his predecessor's statement be quashed.

Lawyers for the families described the outcome as a significant milestone in their campaign to establish the truth surrounding the atrocity.

Niall Murphy of Kevin R Winters solicitors said it was the first successful judicial review of a report by the police ombudsman's office.

"Our clients' strong criticisms, made immediately in the wake of the publication of the report in 2011, have been vindicated and they deserve credit for their perseverance and dedication to establishing the truth about what happened to their loved ones. The decision also provides for a brand new reinvestigation," he said.

Emma Rogan, whose father Adrian was among those killed, said the outcome vindicated the families' belief that the original report was flawed and irrational.

"It is a disgrace that the onus was put on us to take the office of the police ombudsman to the High Court to drag the truth out of the facts that only his office are aware of," she "The conclusion of Al Hutchinson's flawed report was that the complaint of collusion was ruled out due to insufficient evidence.

"The reason that there is insufficient evidence is that the RUC kept destroying the evidence."

Sinn Féin Assembly member Caitriona Ruane also welcomed the move. “It was clear that the families had no confidence in this investigation and its findings," she said. "The conclusions reached were totally incompatible to the evidence produced which clearly pointed at collusion.

"I believe we need to pay tribute to the families for their persistence and for judicially reviewing Al Hutchinson's original decisions. There are many questions still to be answered into the Loughinisland attack including the original RUC investigation, the role of British state agents and the destruction of evidence."

Loyalists are again attempting to bring the North to a standstill this evening with road closures in Belfast and across the north.

The demonstrations coincide with evening rush-hour on what is also the busiest shopping weekend of the year.

Trouble broke out at similar protests on Monday night as loyalists again took to the streets over a reduction in the flying of the British Union Jack flag at Belfast City Hall.

Loyalists have been demonstrating against that decision on an almost daily basis for over two weeks.

Dozens of locations have been listed for protests on a website this evening, including areas of Belfast, Bangor, Portadown, Lisburn, Newtownards and Carrickfergus.

Plans to push ahead with the protests came as political leaders held a marathon special meeting at Stormont yesterday to discuss the flags crisis.

After almost eight hours of talks the five main parties issued a joint statement.

The collective response condemned the riots that have marred some of the demonstrations. However, it did not call for an end to the protests.

Protests are taking place this evening at flashpoints such as Twaddell, Hesketh and Crumlin Road in north Belfast as well as at Finaghy and Shaw's Bridge in the south of the city,the Knock carriageway in the east and Shankill Road and theBroadway roundabout in the west.

Demonstrations are also planned for Larne, Derry, Portadown and Ballymena.

MONDAY MAYHEM

There are fears that the protests could lead to rioting, as seen on Monday night when loyalist mobs erupted into violence in several areas.

The worst of the disturbances took place in the Sandy Row area of Belfast, where a tourist bus was burned out by loyalists armed with petrol bombs. Tourists visiting Belfast city centre had to be taken back to County Wexford in a replacement coach.

Clashes also took place at a flags protest near the Alliance Party office on the Newtownards Road, where a mob of 200 loyalists ran amok. Belfast Telegraph reporter Adrian Rutherford was punched to the ground and his phone was stolen by a masked man as he reported from the scene in east Belfast.

In other incidents, a taxi driver was attacked by protesters blocking a road in north Belfast. The driver, who did not want to be named, said he stopped at a junction when a man who appeared to be orchestrating the blockade ordered a gang of youths to attack his car.

"I keep hearing that these protests are peaceful when they're anything but," he said. "Had they managed to drag me from my car I have no doubt would have been seriously injured or even killed."

In the county Antrim town of Carrickfergus, five masked loyalists burst into the Town Hall and terrified councillors.

A veteran Alliance Party politician, Sean Neeson said he was left "shaken" after the gang stormed into the council chamber and shouted sectarian abuse at him. One of the gang reportedly called Mr Neeson a "Fenian c***" while another pointed an object, believed to have been a golf umbrella, in the direction of councillors.

Trouble also flared in Lisburn and Portadown as the blockades closed dozens of roads across the North.

OMINOUS DEVELOPMENTS

Later in the week, British Union Jack flags were newly erected at a number of sectarian interfaces. The move came as loyalist paramilitary groups ended their support for an agreement on the reduction of flag-flying in the North.

As part of the new campaign of intimidation, flags were erected near Catholic schools and in dozens of other controversial locations -- including outside Holy Cross Girls Primary School in north Belfast, the scene of a bitter loyalist protest a decade ago which made headlines around the world.

In east Belfast, members of the UVF have been accused of orchestrating the protests and being involved in violent incidents sucb as attacks on the offices of the SDLP and Alliance parties in the North. On Wednesday, five Assembly members from Sinn Fein and Alliance received death threats in the form of bullets posted to their offices.

This week, the PSNI said they had arrested sixteen people across the North, nine children and just seven adults. Among those held were children aged 11 and 12. However, it is understood that no loyalist paramilitaries have yet been arrested or threatened with the revocation of their release licences -- a routine PSNI tactic against former republican prisoners.

eirigi's Pádraic Mac Coitir said the flags protests had confirmed that the North remains a hostile place for nationalists.

"How many times have constitutional nationalists told us the Orange state is no more and that we live in a more tolerant society?" he asked.

"The issue of flags is a smokescreen for the wider sectarianism being waged by unionists.

"Sinn Féin and the SDLP bowed to pressure during a debate in Belfast city council and agreed to let that flag on certain days, including the birthday of the English queen.

"Already in many parts of Belfast unionists are putting up more flags, especially in so-called interfaces."

He warned that loyalists would be allowed to continue with their disturbances thanks to "their allies in the PSNI".

"This is in stark contrast to the PSNI response to peaceful marches and protests held by republicans."

Just after making this statement earlier this week, Mr Mac Coitir was arrested and imprisoned this week by the PSNI. He is currently being held at Maghaberry jail in connection with a peaceful sit-down protest in north Belfast against a sectarian Orange Order parade in July, 2010.

A retrial is to be sought in the case of three Ballymena men whose convictions were quashed this week for the 2006 sectarian murder of Catholic teenager Michael McIlveen.

The Catholic schoolboy, known locally as 'Micky Bo', was chased and beaten in Ballymena in May 2006. He was beaten with a baseball bat and kicked as he lay defenceless in an alleyway.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal ruled that guilty verdicts against Aaron Wallace, Christopher Kerr and Jeff Lewis for killing Michael were unsafe. It said this was due to flaws in how the jury was directed.

It means only one man is currently convicted of murdering the 15-year-old.

The Court of Appeal was told that, in reaching its decision to seek a retrial, there had been consultation with the McIlveen family and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Barra McGrory.

The Court of Appeal will not make a ruling on whether there is to be a retrial until 7 January in order for the defence to make written submissions.

Michael's heartbroken family have said his mother may not be able to re-live the tragedy by sitting through another trial. His sister Jodie McIlveen said they were "totally unprepared" for yesterday's news.

"We are just in shock," she said.

"It's left us reliving the whole thing again. It's breaking our hearts. What more do they want from us?"

Ms McIlveen said her mother Gina and the family would never get over Michael's death, but had hoped it would become easier over time.

"My mum has said she couldn't sit through it again," she said. "The rest of us will be there. We'll stick by Michael."

It will be the third murder trial the family will have to go through.

The original trial began in 2008 but had to be abandoned after seven weeks of evidence and a second trial began the following month.

Michael's mother Gina and sister Jodie attended court every day in the company of other family members.

The jury heard about tensions between young people from different religious backgrounds in the County Antrim town and that Michael and two Catholic friends had been chased through Ballymena by a gang of young Protestants before being attacked in an alley.

A postmortem examination revealed that the schoolboy died from a blood clot on his brain as a result of skull fractures caused by "at least one blow to both sides from a blunt weapon", either by a baseball bat or by kicking and stamping.

Michael also had multiple bruising to the brain.

In the midst of their grief the McIlveen family called for no retaliation.

But after the four men were sentenced for Michael's murder the McIlveen family said they were disappointed at the minimum tariffs they had been given.

"We all believe that life should mean life," they said.

"Michael lived for 15 years and not one of the defendants will serve this length of time for his death."

The Bloody Sunday families have welcomed news that former British soldiers may finally be questioned by the PSNI as part of a murder investigation into the killings.

Relatives of the 14 people who died after British paratroopers opened fire on nationalist demonstrators in the city in 1972 were told of the development this week.

Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie confirmed that a detective had finally been appointed to head a murder investigation into the Bloody Sunday killings.

A weekend of commemorative and protest events is due to take place next month to mark the 41st anniversary of the massacre and to demand 'an end to impunity'.

A number of Bloody Sunday families had launched a campaign for justice following the release of the report of the Saville Inquiry in June 2010. That report forced a public apology from British Prime Minister David Cameron and an admission that those massacred had been innocent.

Efforts to bring to justice those responsible for ordering the killings are now finally underway.

A wide range of witnesses are to be questioned,including the soldiers who carried out the shootings

A key focus of the investigation is likely to be the small number of soldiers directly involved in the gun attacks in Derry's Glenfada Park area. One soldier in particular, known as soldier F, is believed to have killed Bernard McGuigan, Patrick Doherty, Michael Kelly and possibly Michael McKinney.

The families were told that the investigation could be expanded if necessary.

John Kelly, whose brother Michael was one of those killed, said the families were pleased with the outcome of the meeting.

Bloody Sunday relative Joe McKinney, brother of murdered William, says he now has more faith in the process.

“To be honest, I was starting to feel dejected after the events of 15 June 2010, to put it mildly. But police seem very positive and say they have to follow where their enquiries and the evidence lead. They say they have been relying heavily on the information contained within the Saville Report and they will now follow those key areas where Lord Saville pointed out there was murder committed. After today, I have more faith in the process.”

Sinn Féin assembly member Raymond McCartney welcomed the PSNI announcement that an investigation into the murders on Bloody Sunday has now begun.

He said the families had been given a timeline on how the PSNI expect that investigation to progress, which would help the families monitor how the investigation is progresing.

“Sinn Féin has supported the call by the families for a proper investigation to be carried out into the events of Bloody Sunday," he said. ”The announcement today that a full time team of PSNI officers have begun an investigation has to be welcomed as a step forward."

Multi-party talks on the flags issue at Stormont have been suspended until next year following an announcement that a forum to unite different forces within unionism has been organised.

The new 'Unionist Forum' is a reaction to recent loyalist anger at Belfast City Council's decision to fly the British Union Jack on designated days only.

The council vote has led to more than two weeks of street protests across the north, many of which have turned violent.

In a joint statement, the DUP and Ulster Unionists said party leaders Peter Robinson and Mike Nesbitt would convene the forum at Stormont's Parliament Buildings "as soon as is practicable".

It followed talks involving the so-called UDA 'brigadier' for South Belfast Jackie McDonald and other loyalist figures.

It is expected to address the flags issue, sectarian parades, and measures to increase unionist voter registration and turnout. The forum will also examine ways of "strengthening British cultural identity" in the north of Ireland.

It is seen as another step towards a merger of the Ulster Unionist Party and the DUP, as well as marking the closer involvement of former loyalist paramilitaries in mainstream unionist politics.

"The participants in the forum will be discussed at the first meeting," Mr Robinson and Mr Nesbitt said in their statement. "The purpose of the forum will be to seek to engage with the entire unionist community and seek to address issues of concern."

The statement said the forum would seek to "channel unionist efforts through political means".

TALKS SUSPENDED

Meanwhile, seven hours of multi-party talks at Stormont resulted only in a pledge to resolve contentious issues of identity through legal means.

The North's business community has urged politicians to act to end the disruption, which has sharply reduced pre-Christmas trade.

After sitting from 9.30am to nearly 5pm, the parties agreed not to comment and instead chose to release a joint statement.

"Party leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the rule of law and the primacy of the political process and deplored violence, attacks onthe PSNI as well as threats to elected representatives," the statement read.

The meeting, chaired by First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, was adjourned yesterday and is expected to reconvene in the New Year.

Speaking earlier this week, Mr McGuinness MP insisted that the only way forward was through cross-community discussions and again called for an "unequivocal" message from unionists to end the disturbances.

"Ultimately, any workable proposals needs cross-community support," he said. "These discussions need to address the meaning of mutual respect, parity of esteem and how to ensure that symbols and emblems are not used to promote division.

The family of a Catholic murder victim are calling for a new investigation into his death amid claims that his killers were informers protected by the police and British intelligence.

The family of Pat Benstead, who was tortured and murdered by the UDA, has called on police ombudsman Michael Maguire to carry out an urgent investigation into his death.

Mr Benstead's naked body was discovered dumped in an alleyway on December 2 1972 following one of the most brutal murders in the conflict.

A cross had been burned into his back alongside the letters 'IRA' and the number '4'. He had been shot twice in the head.

Mr Benstead, who had a learning difficulty, suffered a severe beating and his attackers bound him hand and foot.

Horrific burn marks, believed to have been inflicted with a hot iron, were later found on the dead man's body, hands and feet.

From the Short Strand in east Belfast, Mr Benstead was last seen in the Falls Road area in the west of the city after enjoying a quiet drink with workmates in the Beehive bar.

He was abducted by an east Belfast-based UDA gang that called itself the 'G4 Unit' as he made his way home across the city on foot.

The number '4' later found burned into his back is believed to have been a reference to the 'G4 Unit' which was attached to the organisation's 'G Company' in east Belfast.

The vicious loyalist murder gang was linked to several attacks on innocent Catholics which involved the prolonged torture of victims before they were shot dead.

Mr Benstead's family have voiced fears that the hit squad responsible for killing the 32-year-old may have been heavily infiltrated by RUC Special Branch and British military intelligence which therefore turned a blind eye to the attacks it carried out.

The Historical Enquiries Team, which completed an investigation in 2010, failed to examine potential links to the murder.

The full role of former UDA chief Edward 'Ned' McCreery, who ran the 'G4 Unit' and former SAS member Albert 'Ginger' Baker had never been explained fully.

Both McCreery and Baker are believed to have been British agents at various times and were directly involved in other so-called 'romper room' murders in 1972 and early 1973.

Three years before the Shankill Butchers claimed their first victim in 1975, Mr Benstead's death shocked even the most battle-hardened observers because of its grisly nature.

At the inquest a coroner said the case was among the "most horrifying" he had ever come across.

The Benstead family have labelled a Historical Enquiries Team probe into the circumstances of the murder as "flawed" and have called on the police ombudsman to review the case urgently.

Mr Benstead's brother Colum said that despite the family approaching the police ombudsman in 2006, nothing had been done to date.

"We believe the HET report was completely flawed," he said.

"Two people in the police ombudsman's office said to me that people were highly resistant to look into my brothers murder because it would open up a huge can of worms.

"One said to me it had the potential to be massive."

The campaigning brother said it was essential that the police ombudsman begin to investigate as soon as possible.

"When I first brought this to Nuala O'Loan she said was willing to look into it but then Al Hutchinson took over," Mr Benstead said.

"Me and two of my sons met with him and he told us it could take 20 years before they would get to it.

"Most of the people who were in volved in my brother's murder would be in their sixties and seventies now. We don't have 20 years.

"Myself and a close friend of mine, Arthur Fegan, have collected a lot of information and I have provided the police ombudsman with the names of people we believe were involved and yet they haven't done anything to date.

"We also gave them the name of a man who survived a 'romper room' attack an received compensation in 1975.

"It's obvious given the passage of time they need to speak to him and other potential witnesses from that time.

"We believe there was collusion in his murder and we need them to investigate the circumstances now."

-------------------------------------------------------------------- A commemoration event in memory of Joe McKelvey, Liam Mellows, Richard Barrett and Rory O’Connor took place in Belfast’s Milltown Cemetery yesterday [December 8], organised by the Seán Mac Diarmada Republican Society and the Irish Republican Martyrs Commemoration Committee. The main oration was delivered by éirígí activist Sharon Pickering. Below we carry the text of Sharon’s speech. --------------------------------------------------------------------

It is an honour to be invited to speak at this commemoration today. As we know this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Harbinson plot. In 1912 This Celtic Cross was erected on the plot beside us and was dedicated to all those from the ranks of the Irish Republican Brotherhood who had been imprisoned in Belfast Gaol. It is named after William Harbinson a member of the IRB, who died in Belfast’s Crumlin Road Jail on Monday 7th September, 1867.

As we gather here to remember Joe McKelvey, Liam Mellows, Richard Barrett and Rory O’Connor on the ninetieth anniversary of their execution by Free State forces, we also remember all those died in the struggle for national freedom. Including Seán McCartney, Séamus ‘Rocky’ Burns, Seán Gaffney and Terence Perry who are buried in this plot alongside Joe McKelvey.

The struggle to defend and uphold the Irish Republic declared by Connolly, Pearse, Tom Clarke, and their comrades in 1916 was conducted by many courageous men and women.

The four Republicans we remember today were among those. They were picked for execution because they had all been officers in the Four Courts, were members of the IRB, and each one represented a different province of Ireland. Joe McKelvey from Ulster, Rory O’Connor from Leinster, Dick Barrett from Munster and Liam Mellows from Connacht.

They were then buried in four different counties of Ireland. Rory O’Connor was to be buried in the Republican Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery, Joe McKelvey in the Republican Plot, Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, Dick Barrett in his home parish – Ahiohill Churchyard, Co Cork and Liam Mellow, according to his own wishes, in Castletown Churchyard, Co Wexford.

All four men were born into an Ireland which, just a few decades earlier, had experienced the unprecedented ravages of An Gorta Mór – The Great Hunger. Between 1845 and 1850, approximately 1.5 million Irish men, women and children died of starvation or related diseases. By 1855, more than two million more had fled Ireland to avoid a similar fate.

It was an Ireland where the wealth of Ireland was controlled by a landowning aristocracy loyal to Britain where families were evicted from their homes at the point of British bayonets. An Ireland where a new middle-class was being created as industrialisation commenced.

It was an Ireland where the IRB and other like-minded individuals sought to organise and fight for freedom.

An Ireland which by the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century was again attempting to rebuild and reclaim its cultural heritage through organisations such as the GAA and Conradh na Gaeilge.

As Ireland moved into the second decade of the 20th century, those patriotic stirrings, along with events occurring elsewhere, were leading many to question the British presence in Ireland and to set about preparing for armed revolt.

Similarly, Irish workers were also becoming more organised and were engaging in major industrial action.

Those two currents merged together at Easter 1916 when the Irish Republic was proclaimed through force of arms. Those who organised and participated in Easter Week clearly set out a political agenda based upon national self-determination, social and economic justice and democracy, of cherishing all the children of the nation equally, of claiming the wealth of Ireland for the people of Ireland.

Although defeated militarily, the men and women of Easter inspired others to act.

But unlike 1916, the subsequent struggle for independence during the Tan War saw a greater influence being wielded by those who were politically conservative.

Nevertheless, through the use of guerrilla tactics, electoral interventions, civil disobedience and the establishment of alternative political structures, Republicans had virtually wrested control of the country from the British state. Britain only retained power through armed force, terror and repressive laws.

At the same time, other struggles began as workers and small farmers took control of factories and the broke-up large ranches. Workplace occupations and land seizures began taking place.

In the eyes of the middle-class and conservative nationalist elements involved in the independence struggle, there was a danger that the struggle could become one by the exploited classes against their domestic oppressors as well.

When Britain commenced the Treaty negotiations, it knew that these events had scared middle-class Irish nationalists. Britain recognised that the best way of securing its interests in Ireland would be by those same conservative middle-class Irish nationalists realising that Britain would defend their interests too.

Those conservative elements in Irish society, the middle-classes, the church, the press and the business- and land-owning capitalists combined to undermine the Republican struggle in favour of the Treaty.

The Republican demands for national self-determination, for social and economic justice and democracy, of cherishing all the children of the nation equally, of claiming the wealth of Ireland for the people of Ireland were abandoned. No longer was the objective to be securing the greatest measures of political, social and economic freedom for the mass of the population.

Instead, these objectives were ditched in favour of a Treaty that would see the creation of two partitionist states within the British empire where control of the means of production and wealth generation would still remain in the hands of a small, but very wealthy, minority.

The men we honour today recognised that fact and opposed the Treaty.

As Liam Mellows stated – “It would be folly to destroy English tyranny in order to erect a domestic tyranny that would need another revolution to free the people. The Irish Republic stands, therefore, for the ownership of Ireland by the people of Ireland. It means that the means and process of production must not be used for the profit or aggrandisement of any group or class.

“Ireland, if her industries and banks were controlled by foreign capital, would be at the mercy of every breeze that ruffled the surface of the world’s money-markets...

“In our efforts to win back public support for the Republic we are forced to recognise, whether we like it or not, that the commercial interests and the gombeen man are on the side of the Treaty. We are back to Tone – which is just as well – relying on that great body, ‘the men of no property’. The ‘stake in the country people’ were never with the Republic. They are not with it now and they will always be against it....”

The two states on this island which were created through the Treaty and partition were, and still remain, hostile to the interests of Irish workers and have acted against the struggles of Irish workers time and time again.

The total number of unemployed across the 32 counties is now over 600,000 people, many thousands of others who are employed are facing wage-cuts and are hanging on to their jobs and their family homes by their very fingertips. Thousands of our young people are again being forced abroad as economic migrants. The working class, the unemployed, the ill, the elderly and the young are under attack across the whole island.

Yet the property developers and landlords, the bankers, and the corrupt politicians, those who amassed fortunes at the expense of others still retain their ill-gotten gains.

That was not the kind of future which Mellows, McKelvey and their comrades had envisaged. They knew only too well that partition would lead to the carnival of reaction envisaged by Connolly, and that carnival of reaction has been in full flow in recent years.

The Ireland of today remains controlled by imperialism, all be it in a new and more subtle form.

Liam Mellows was quite emphatic in his view that those who support and endorse the structures of partition had placed themselves firmly in the camp of the counter-revolution.

From his prison cell in Mountjoy, he urged Republicans to concentrate on politically educating the youth of Ireland.

He believed that the failure to initiate proper political awareness and political education programmes was a major contributory factor that led to many former comrades accepting the Treaty: “The reason for so many young soldiers going wrong is that they never had a proper grasp of fundamentals. They were absorbed into movement and fight - not educated into it. Hence, no real convictions.”

That could still be said today about other treaties and agreements.

We must again educate others into the nature of the Irish Republican struggle; that our struggle is not based on a narrow-minded nationalism; it is about achieving real political freedom, it is about delivering social justice, it is about economic equality for all.

The objectives to which Mellows, McKelvey, Barrett and O’Connor and many others pledged their allegiance; the objectives for which they gave their lives are the same objectives which were clearly and unmistakably enunciated through the 1916 Proclamation and the Democratic Programme of 1919. Those objectives have not been achieved.

Settling for anything less than the complete achievement of those Republican objectives was not an option for those whom we remember and honour today.

They sought to establish a free, sovereign and independent Irish Republic – a workers’ republic as Mellows called it.

The goals and objectives of those who were executed have never been secured.

The task for each of us is to help create a modern vision of a new Irish Republic and to re-awaken the inherent desire for true political, social and economic freedom and justice that exists among all people, young and old alike, in our villages, towns and cities, in our workplaces, in every one of our communities.

So as we remember Joe, Liam, Richard and Rory, let their example encourage us all to continue to struggle onwards to achieve their vision of a free, and truly independent, socialist Irish Republic.

There were several, simultaneous, overlapping and complementary conspiracies going on which taken together inescapably amount to 'an overarching state conspiracy in the murder of citizens through collusion between state agencies and loyalist paramilitaries', one of whom was Pat Finucane.

To prove my interpretation I will use Sir Desmond's own words.

Let us begin firstly with what most people believe is the state - the government of the day - that is, those ministers who sit around the cabinet table in 10 Downing Street.

According to Sir Desmond there were repeated efforts made to successive British governments by Britain's intelligence agencies, the RUC Special Branch and British army for "a proper legal framework for agent handling".

The reason why they sought this was self-serving and self-preservation because the agents they had needed to, and did, engage, in Sir Desmond's words, in "criminal conspiracies with their terrorist associates". In other words agents broke the law. And when they did so did their handlers, because they led and protected them. Breaking the law meant killing people.

Successive British governments knew that agents were being run by their intelligence and state security services but they blatantly refused to give them "any effective guidance or a legal framework".

This at least amounted to a conspiracy of silence based on knowledge, however vague, that the law was being broken. It could also be interpreted as encouragement.

The British government refused to introduce "legal guidance" because this could have led to restrictions on the actions of agents and their handlers.

For Sir Desmond this was "wilful" on the government's part and in the dictionary wilful means 'done intentionally'. On that basis I think we could safely put the main state institution - the government - in the conspiracy.

The purported rationale for agent infiltration into armed organisations was to use their information to save people's lives.

This is what Sir Desmond had to say about saving people's lives: "Taken as a whole an extraordinary state of affairs was created in which both the army and the RUC SB [Special Branch] had prior notice of a series of planned UDA assassinations, yet nothing was done by the RUC to prevent these attacks."

And of the intelligence used in these attacks Sir Desmond said: "85 per cent of the UDA's intelligence originated from sources within the security services."

On three occasions, 1981, 1985 and 1989, when the UDA assassinated Pat Finucane, the RUC and MI5 had prior intelligence of the attacks, yet Sir Desmond states "there is no evidence that any action was taken to warn or otherwise seek to protect him".

Indeed Sir Desmond accepts what others found - "that an RUC officer or officers did propose Patrick Finucane as a UDA target when speaking to a loyalist paramilitary" and that "the UDA received 'intelligence' about Patrick Finucane from a police source".

Pat Finucane was the subject of what Sir Desmond describes as a "security service propaganda initiative". No less a person than the chief constable of the RUC, Sir John Hermon and senior officers briefed Douglas Hogg that some solicitors were "effectively in the pockets of terrorists". In the British House of Commons Hogg said there were a number of solicitors "unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA". Four weeks later Pat Finucane was shot dead.

Ten UDA loyalists were involved in killing Pat Finucane, Terrence McDaid and Gerard Slane. Three were the agents Nelson, Stobie and Barrett. All three were involved in killing Pat Finucane. None of the killers were intercepted or arrested.

It is entirely understandable why Geraldine Finucane, Pat's wife, described Sir Desmond's conclusions as a "sham" and a "whitewash", as are her son Michael's comments that Sir Desmond's report is part of the "jigsaw that can be used to further our case for a public inquiry".

However sincere Mr Cameron's apology is to the Finucane family, it is wholly insufficient. A public inquiry is the only credible response to Sir Desmond.

Roads blocked by mass flag protests

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Loyalists blocked roads across Belfast as part of a mass protest over flags.

The pickets caused disruption for rush-hour traffic. Bus operator Translink suspended most of its Metro services into and out of the city centre.

Social media websites listed up to 60 protests across Northern Ireland to start from 6pm on Friday. A PSNI spokeswoman reported at least 10 roadblocks.

She said: A number of roads have been closed due to ongoing protests. These currently are Templemore Avenue; Albertbridge Road; Upper Malone Road at the Dub Lane; Crumlin Road at Cambrai Street and Hesketh Park; Limestone Road at North Queen Street and the Boyne Bridge off Sandy Row."